Healthy cooking is creative cooking! 

 People who know me well are usually surprised when they see I turned out to be a good chef because growing up, I didn’t know how to cook or know how to work my way around the kitchen. However, I was bound to eventually learn a lot about cooking from my late mom.

 My mother was a nutritionist and a dietician who trained at the New York Institute of Dietetics. She perfected her abilities there, and was truly a wonderful cook. When she was alive, she and I worked together to create recipes and blends that can help lower blood sugar, diabetes, and high blood pressure. She was known for making spice blends, cookware, and healthy food, especially for her own late mother, who battled diabetes. Her cooking skills and expertise helped my mom create recipes that helped her mother cope with that disease. 

I have to say, once I started trying to cook, I learned pretty fast. I developed a passion for cooking by watching my mom maneuver her way elegantly around the kitchen in her high heels. Mom was one of the few women I’ve ever seen wearing four-inch heels for hours while cooking in the kitchen. She cooked so elegantly; no wonder my dad fell in love with her! I developed this hobby after years of watching her doing it so gracefully, and now I’m great at it too! 

Tragically, my mother struggled with the very serious disease of mental illness, and she was often depressed. One day, we found her flat on the floor of her room, dead. To this day, we’ve never found closure because we don’t know if she committed suicide or died of natural causes. Still, we keep our hope in God alive, and I decided to keep her dreams alive by doing exactly what she’d always loved to do: making spice blends, developing recipes, and creating magic in the kitchen. When I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, the doctor told me I would be on medication for the rest of my life, but I didn’t let that prognosis bring me down or discourage me. Instead, I focused even more on what I love to do, and I strive to do it graciously. I found hope in creative cooking. I enjoy what I do and use it as a coping and healing mechanism. I believe all family members should join in family cooking sessions! Even if they don’t learn everything at once or really take to it, trust me, they’ll learn some skills that will stick with them when they grow up. They, too, may eventually become elegant cooks, or maybe they’ll simply get in the habit of immediately cleaning up used utensils, setting a lovely table, or polishing silverware. Cooking with and for the family is a wonderful way to establish a strong family bond as you share and work together.

Today, I make my own recipes and seasonings and I see most of my mother’s finesse in me. If I can learn to become a good cook in my thirties, anyone can learn and start anytime. It’s my joy to share wonderful recipes that can promote health and bring family and friends together to experience the fun of good food.